Jake had an amazing day today. Yesterday, his former flight instructor texted him, knowing we were here in Florida, and asked if he'd want to copilot a Pilatus PC-12 back to Toledo with him. Jake would never turn down that opportunity (and of course we wouldn't want him to), so Renee and I drove him down to Page Field in Fort Myers. This photo shows Jake and his instructor going through their pre-flight checklist. He told us shortly after they finished pre-flight that his instructor told Jake that he would be doing all the radio work. Always the teacher! Jake was a bit nervous about that, but excited, too. A few minutes later they were wheels up to Toledo, with a quick stop in Columbus.

I love this shot of Jake, as copilot. He gave us a quick wave right after this and then they taxied out to the runway.

Jake sent us a few shots from the flight. I totally get what he loves about flying and planes. Beautiful!

Jake sent this photo after they landed at Toledo Executive. I love the shadows of him and his instructor. Jake called us shortly after this and was just beaming with excitement. He had a lot of firsts as a pilot today - first flight in a turboprop, first with retractable landing gear, first time entering Class A airspace as a pilot, and many others. My favorite might be one Jake mentioned to us on the phone afterwards. His instructor told him it was the first flight for those two with him in the left seat and Jake in the right. Awww.